Oregon Focus: People to Know: Abigail Scott Duniway

About Abigail Scott DuniwayAbigail Scott Duniway was born in Illinois in 1834. On the way to Oregon in 1852, her mother died, but her father and eight brothers and sisters continued on west. They settled in Lafayette, Oregon. When she was 18 years old, she taught school in Cincinnati, Oregon (now called Eola) and the following year married Benjamin C. Duniway. He was crippled in 1862 so Abigail went back to teaching school to support herself and her four children. At Albany she started a millinery (women's hats and related items) business.

In 1872 she became publisher and editor of the paper, The New Northwest. Her work took her to Portland. The paper was a pioneer in the movement for women's suffrage and equal rights.

Duniway lectured extensively during her publishing career, which extended from 1871 to 1887. That year she moved to Idaho to aide the women's suffrage movement there. When the women's vote was adopted in Idaho in 1896, she returned to Oregon and worked for it until the adoption of this state's suffrage amendment in 1912.

Interestingly, Harvey Scott, Duniway's brother and then editor of The Oregonian newspaper, was one of the most outspoken critics and opponents regarding women's suffrage in Oregon.